LINCOLN: The Movie ( from www.shippeesays.com)

I had the pleasure of spending some time, this afternoon, with President Abraham Lincoln.

No really, I was with Abraham Lincoln, Mary Todd Lincoln, Thaddeus Stevens, William Seward, and a host of the key players whose combined efforts allowed Lincoln to hold the Union together through a war of secession.

But…….let me repeat, Abraham Lincoln was actually there, and so was I.

We argued, and we plotted a path to the successful vote that adopted the THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION.

It was messy process, with many less than proud moments, but we got it done, Abe and I.

The total experience left both of us wrung out, and the floor of the House littered with the corpses of so many political alliances, but in the end, could anyone question that it was the right thing to do ?

In the car, after the film, Ieva asked aloud, to no one in particular, why are there so few men like Lincoln in the assembled history of our country ?

I was tempted to answer, but did not………that, “ There is only one Daniel Day Lewis among us. ”

His on- screen portrayal of The Rail Splitter from Illinois is one of those rarest of filmed accomplishments, wherein the actor, in his/her role, is able to literally channel the person they are playing.

There was not a single person in that theater that didn’t believe they had encountered President Abraham Lincoln, at the EPIC Theater that afternoon.

Every few decades, Hollywood picks a moment in time, and they simply nail it !

The other example that comes quickly to mind was the film “ 1776 ”, and that was a musical for cry’n out loud.

Well, “ Lincoln ” is no musical, but by God, it depicts a dead on look at three months of American history that literally changed our world….and changed it for the better.

This film stands with one other, in the representation of man’s sad struggle to override the held-in-common sin of human bondage, wherein some men actually believed it was their God-given right to OWN ANOTHER HUMAN BEING, as a matter of commerce !

That film is titled “Amazing Grace ”, and it tells the story of one man’s successful campaign to abolish slavery in the British empire. His efforts preceded our 13th Amendment, by the way.

But, back in Washington D.C. , in 1865 , a great man did a great thing. He resisted peace overtures from the Confederate States that would have ended the Civil War, but retained slave ownership.

The danger of such a possible compromise is exactly what drove Lincoln to stay the course, in pursuing the passage of the 13th amendment.

Steven Spielberg, and Daniel Day Lewis, have given the American people a great gift, in this film.

They have given us a touchstone that will forever confirm for us, the words of Martin Luther King.